California pols press MarAd on Suisan Bay toxins

California pols press MarAd on Suisan Bay toxins California elected officials are pressing the federal government to provide details on how heavy metal pollution from the aging mothball fleet of U.S. Navy vessels in Suisan Bay is impacting the bay and how the toxins will be cleaned up.
   California Rep. George Miller and Rep. Ellen Tauscher, both D-Solano, and U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein asked in a letter to the U.S. Maritime Administration Friday for “full briefing on the contents of the report and a description of what further studies, if any, need to be taken to better understand the environmental impact of the Suisun fleet.”
   The request comes following the recent release of a 610-page draft report commissioned by MarAd after the Contra Costa Times detailed the deteriorating conditions of the ships in May 2006. Sediment samples conducted by the paper indicate a significant threat to animals and anyone eating fish from the area.
   The draft report, according to the paper, suggests that dozens of the 80-plus World War II-era vessels are a much greater risk to the environment than MarAd previously acknowledged.
   “The fact that they have been sitting on this report for months is infuriating,” Tauscher said in Friday's letter. “Bay Area citizens have the right to know the environmental impact of the mothball fleet, which is why we are putting pressure on the Bush administration to let us know what, if any, plans they have to protect our bay.”
   The draft report details that at least 21 tons of seven toxic metals, in addition to quantities of sloughed off paint, have fallen or been washed into the bay, with at least another 66 tons still on the vessels.
   Analysis of the report by the paper's outside consultants suggests that the materials still aboard the vessels are likely to wind up in the bay if not cleaned up in sito.
   The MarAd report examined 40 vessels in the mothballed fleet and took 24 samples from the bay floor around the vessel. Government investigators found that the WWII-era paint, applied long before mandatory lead regulation for paints, is highly toxic. Though only 25 percent of the paint has entered the bay, the remaining 75 percent is badly peeling.
   The federal government has been using Suisan Bay as a storage area for decommissioned vessels since just after WWII. At one time the 'Ghost Fleet' numbered in the hundreds. Today about 80 are left, with 55 classified as either ready for disposal or being readied. Despite Congressional deadlines, the disposal of the fleet, costing upwards of $1 million per vessel, have been hampered by increased regulatory demands and the lack of any West Coast ship breaking facilities.